In a semiconductor device manufacturing process, a probe device is used to perform an electrical inspection of a semiconductor device formed on a semiconductor wafer. In the probe device, a semiconductor wafer is mounted on a mounting table (chuck top) and electrical conduction is obtained by driving the mounting table to bring probes into contact with electrodes of the semiconductor device of the semiconductor wafer. The test of the semiconductor device is performed by applying a predetermined test signal from a measuring device (tester) to the semiconductor device through the probes and detecting an output signal from the semiconductor device.
In a probe device for performing an electrical test of a semiconductor device having an electrode at the backside of the semiconductor wafer, e.g., a power device having a collector electrode formed at the backside of the semiconductor wafer, a conductive film electrode made of a conductive metal such as gold is formed as a mounting table electrode at a mounting surface of a mounting table (chuck top) and the conductive film electrode is made contact with the electrode formed at the backside of the semiconductor wafer, thereby obtaining electrical conduction. The power device has a high withstand voltage and a high current compared to a general semiconductor device and may have a high speed and a high frequency depending on purpose. An insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), a diode, a power transistor, a power MOSFET, a thyristor and the like may be used as the power device. The quality of the power device is determined by measuring its electrical characteristic (static characteristic and dynamic characteristic).
Further, in the probe device for performing the electrical test of the power device or the like, if the conductive film electrode and the tester are electrically connected by a cable or the like, the cable becomes longer due to the driving type of the mounting table and this leads to an increase of resistance or inductance of the cable. For this reason, there has been known a probe device having a configuration that pogo pins electrically connected to the conductive film electrode are provided at a side surface of the mounting table and the pogo pins are brought into contact with an annular electrode plate provided thereabove (see, e.g., Patent Document 1).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No-2011-138865
However, when the electrical test of the power device or the like is performed, a large current needs to flow and, thus, the electrical path in the probe device is increased. This increases the resistance or the inductance and leads to an increase of a load for the current of the electrical path. In addition, an output waveform obtained when a high frequency signal is applied becomes blunt. Accordingly, the accurate inspection cannot be performed. Therefore, it is preferable to reduce the electrical resistance or the like by minimizing the electrical path in the probe device.